Women's Interactions with Romantic Comedies and the Impact on their RelationshipsHappily Ever After:

Abstract

Popular images in romantic comedies of the gallant knight and relationships that end with “Happily Ever After” affect women's expectations of what a relationship should be like and what a man should do in the relationship. This standard is mediated by both the women's interaction with the movie and its images, along with patriarchal notions of women wanting, and even needing a relationship. Using in-depth interviews from 18 heterosexual women, this study focuses on displaying how women are impacted by romantic movies and, using a Feminist Interactionist Cultural Studies perspective, how women interact with these movies to construct meaning in their own lives and relationships, while still maintaining the gendered status quo.

Citation

Caperello, N. and Migliaccio, T. (2011), " Women's Interactions with Romantic Comedies and the Impact on their RelationshipsHappily Ever After:", Denzin, N.K. and Faust, T. (Ed.) Studies in Symbolic Interaction (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 37), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 195-219. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-2396(2011)0000037011